Revisions and Changes:Medical Home items and criteria in the 2007 NSCH differ substantially from the 2003 survey. The goal of these changes was to align measurement of Medical Home in the NSCH more closely with the Medical Home measure used in the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. Please take this into consideration when comparing across survey years.

Additional Notes:The American Academy of Pediatrics specifies seven qualities essential to medical home care: accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective. Ideally, medical home care is delivered within the context of a trusting and collaborative relationship between the child’s family and a competent health professional who is familiar with the child and family and the child’s health history.
For the 2007 NSCH, presence of a medical home is measured by a composite based on five component variables constructed from a total of 19 survey items. These component indicators are:
- Indicator 4.9: Personal doctor or nurse - pdn
- Indicator 4.9a: Usual source for sick and well care - usual
- Indicator 4.9b: Family-centered care - famcent
- Indicator 4.9c: Problems getting needed referrals - norefprob
- Indicator 4.9d: Effective Care Coordination when needed - carecoor.
To qualify as having a Medical Home children must meet the criteria for adequate care on the first three components: personal doctor or nurse, usual source for care, and family-centered care. Any children who needed referrals or care coordination must also meet criteria for those components in order to qualify as having a medical home.
Further information about Medical Home concept and measurement is available on the Data Resource Center Medical Home portal, and on the AAP Medical Home web page.

Treatment of Unknown Values:Unknown values (responses coded as 'refused', 'don't know', or system missing) are not included in the denominator when calculating prevalence estimates and weighted population counts displayed in the data query results table. In nearly every case, the proportion of unknown values is less than 1% and the exclusion of these values does not change the prevalence estimates (%) and only marginally affects the weighted population counts (Weighted Est.). Exceptions are noted in the form of a “Data Alert” at the bottom of a results table.

History and Development:The Maternal and Child Health Bureau leads the development of the NSCH survey and indicators, in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and a national technical expert panel. The expert panel includes representatives from other federal agencies, state Title V leaders, family organizations, and child health researchers. Previously validated questions and scales are used when available. Respondents’ cognitive understanding of the survey questions is assessed during the pretest phase and revisions made as required. All final data components are verified by NCHS and DRC/CAHMI staff prior to public release.

Tabular Data

Indicator 4.8: How many children receive health care that meets the AAP definition of medical home? (details...)

DATA ALERT: Hispanic includes all children reporting Hispanic/Latino origin; Non-Hispanic children reporting a single race category of either White or Black are grouped respectively; Non-Hispanic children reporting more than one race category are grouped as "Multi-racial"; Non-Hispanic children reporting only one race category of Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander are grouped as "Other" because of small sample sizes. There is approximately 2% missing data for race.

Data Graph

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With funding and direction from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the National Survey of Children’s Health was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. CAHMI is responsible for the analyses, interpretations, presentations and conclusions included on this site.